Populus as army and the preservation of Roman language

The Inspiration

Harvey Jr., P.B., and P.H. Baldi. 2002. “Latin Populus: A reevaluation.”
In 13th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, Los Angeles, November 9-10, 2001, edited by Karlene Jones-Bley, Martin E. Huld, Angela Della Volpe, and Miriam Robbins Dexter, 44:145–164. Journal of Indo-Eurpopean Studies Monograph Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ancient confusion

mulieres genas ne radunto, neve lessum funeris ergo habento (Cicero de leg. 2.23.59)

Let not the women tear their cheeks or make the lessus of the funeral rites.

Lex Valeria de provocatione

Valeria lex cum eum qui provocasset virgis caedi securique necari vetuisset, si quis adversus ea fecisset, nihil ultra quam “improbe factum” adiecit. id, qui tum pudor hominum erat, visum, credo, vinculum satis validum legis: nunc vix serio ita minetur quisquam. (Livy AUC 10.9.3–6)

The Valerian law, it is true, forbade any one who had exercised his right of appeal to be scourged or beheaded, but if any one transgressed its provisions it added no penalty, but simply declared such transgression to be a ‘wicked act.’

Greek treaties

alia omnis praeda populi Romani esset (Livy AUC 26.24.11)

…εἰ δέ τινές κα τού̣-
τ̣ων τῶν ἐθνῶν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι πόλεις κατὰ κρα-
τος λάβωντι, ταύτας τὰς πόλεις καὶ τὰς
[χ]ώρας ἕνεκεν τοῦ δάμου τῶν Ῥωμαίων
τῶι δάμωι τῶι τῶν Αἰτωλῶν ἔχειν ἐξέστω·
IG IX, 1² 2:241, l. 4-8

Magister Populi

hinc [sc. dico] dictator magister populi, quod is a consule debet dici (Varro LL 6.61)

From this word [sc. dico] “dictator” became used for “master of the populus,” because he has to be named by a consul.

Carmen Saliare

Pilumnoe poploe in carmine saliari Romani, velut pilis uti assueti: vel quia praecipue pellant hostis. (Festus 224 = frag. 4[1] Morel)

The Romans are called “pilumnoe poploe” in the Carmen Saliare, either because they were accustomed to use the pilum, or because they were especially good at driving back the enemy.

Populus as Army

Centuriate Assembly as Army

centuriata autem comitia intra pomerium fieri nefas esse, quia exercitum extra urbem imperari oporteat, intra urbem imperari ius non sit. (Laelius Felix apud Gell. 15.27.5)

However it is forbidden to hold a centuriate assembly inside the pomerium, because the army must be commanded outside the city, and inside the city it is not lawful for it to be commanded.

Populus and/or Plebs

Populum sevocare

…ceterum tribuni plebis, non tam lege quam exemplo moti, ne quis postea populum sevocaret, capite sanxerunt (Livy AUC 7.16.8)

…The tribunes of the plebs, however, looking not so much to the law as to the precedent set, made it a capital offense for any one to convene the populus outside their usual place of meeting.

Provocatio ad Populum

Volero appellat tribunos. cum auxilio nemo esset, consules spoliari hominem et virgas expediri iubent. “Provoco,” inquit “ad populum.” (Livy AUC 2.55)

Volero appealed to the tribunes. None came to his assistance, so the consuls ordered him to be stripped and the rods got ready. ‘I appeal to the populus,’ he said…

Provocatio ad Populum

et in senatu et ad populum magnis contentionibus certatum, et imperia inhibita ultro citroque, et pignera capta, et multae dictae, et tribuni appellati, et provocatum ad populum est. (Livy AUC 37.51)

The matter was agitated in stormy debates, both in the senate and before the commons: authoritative commands were issued on both sides, pledges were seized, fines imposed, the tribunes applied to, and appeals made to the populus.

Ius agendi cum…

Cum populo patribusque agendi ius esto consuli, praetori, magistro populi equitumque, eique quem patres produnt consulum rogandorum ergo; tribunisque quos sibi plebes <cre>assit ius esto cum patribus agendi; idem ad plebem, quod oesus erit, ferunto. (Cicero de leg. 3.10)

The right of conducting business with the populus and the fathers belongs to the consul, the praetor, the master of the populus and of the horse, and to him whom the fathers provide for electing consuls [=interrex]; and to the tribunes whom the plebs creates for itself belongs the right of conducting business with the fathers; the same should bring to the plebs whatever should be of use.

Lex Valerio-Horatia

Omnium primum, cum velut in controverso iure esset tenerenturne patres plebi scitis, legem centuriatis comitiis tulere ut quod tributim plebes iussisset populum teneret. (Liv. AUC 3.55, who also says this was a lex consularis)

First of all, since it was of dubious legality whether the fathers were held by plebiscites, they carried a law in the centuriate assembly that whatever the plebs should order in tribes should hold the populus.

Lex Valerio-Horatia

Λεύκιος Οὐαλέριος Ποτῖτος καὶ Μάρκος Ὁράτιος Βαρβᾶτος … νόμους ἐκύρωσαν ἐν ἐκκλησίαις λοχίτισι, δυσχεραινόντων μὲν τῶν πατρικίων, αἰδουμένων δ’ ἀντιλέγειν, ἄλλους τέ τινας, οὓς οὐ δέομαι γράφειν, καὶ τὸν κελεύοντα τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τεθέντας ἐν ταῖς φυλετικαῖς ἐκκλησίαις νόμους ἅπασι κεῖσθαι Ῥωμαίοις ἐξ ἴσου, τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχοντας δύναμιν τοῖς ἐν ταῖς λοχίτισιν ἐκκλησίαις τεθησομένοις. (Dion. Hal. AR 11.45)

…L. Valerius Potitus and M. Horatius Barbatus…secured the ratification in centuriate assemblies of various laws, most of which I need not mention, laws with which the patricians were displeased though they were ashamed to oppose them, and particularly the one which ordained that the laws passed by the populace in its tribal assemblies should apply to all the Romans alike, having the same force as those which should be passed in the centuriate assemblies.

Lex Publilia

[Q. Publilius Philo dictator]…tres leges secundissimas plebei, adversas nobilitati tulit: unam, ut plebi scita omnes Quirites tenerent (Liv. AUC 8.12)

Q. Publilius Philo the dictator…brought three laws most favorable to the plebs and against the nobility: one, that plebiscites should bind all Quirites…

Lex Hortensia

Q. Hortensius dictator, cum plebes secessisset in Ianiculum, legem in aesculeto tulit, ut quod ea iussisset omnes Quirites teneret. (Pliny the Elder NH 16.15)

Q. Hortensius, the Dictator, on the secession of the plebeians to the Janiculum, passed a law in the Aesculetum, that what the plebeians had enacted should be binding upon every Roman citizen.

…“plebisscita” appellantur…quibus rogationibus ante patricii non tenebantur, donec Q. Hortensius dictator eam legem tulit, ut eo iure, quod plebs statuisset, omnes Quirites tenerentur. (Laelius Felix apud Gell. NA 15.27)

…they are called “plebiscites”…by which the patricians were earlier not held, until Q. Hortensius, as dictator, brought this law, that all Quirites should be held by that law which the plebs established.

Lex Hortensia

sed postea lex Hortensia lata est, qua cautum est, ut plebiscita universum populum tenerent. (Gai. Comm. 1.3.3)

but afterwards the Hortensian law was passed, which provided that plebiscites bind the entire populus.

Lex Hortensia

mox cum revocata est plebs, quia multae discordiae nascebantur de his plebis scitis, pro legibus placuit et ea observari lege hortensia: et ita factum est, ut inter plebis scita et legem species constituendi interesset, potestas autem eadem esset. (Just. Dig. 1.2.2.8)

Soon after, on the plebs being induced to return, a great deal of disagreement arose in connection with these plebiscites, in consequence of which it was enacted by the lex Hortensia that they should be observed as if they were regular statutes. The result of this was that the difference between a plebiscite and a statute consisted thereafter in the formal method of enactment, but the force of the two was the same.

sed et plebiscita, lege Hortensia lata, non minus valere quam leges coeperunt. (Just. Inst. Iust. 1.2.4)

Plebiscita after the Hortensian law began to have the same force as laws.

Lex Valerio-Horatia

Omnium primum, cum velut in controverso iure esset tenerenturne patres plebi scitis, legem centuriatis comitiis tulere ut quod tributim plebes iussisset populum teneret. (Liv. AUC 3.55)

First of all, since it was of dubious legality whether the fathers were held by plebiscites, they carried a law in the centuriate assembly that whatever the plebs should order in tribes should hold the populus.

Lex Publilia

[Q. Publilius Philo dictator]…tres leges secundissimas plebei, adversas nobilitati tulit: unam, ut plebi scita omnes Quirites tenerent (Liv. AUC 8.12)

Q. Publilius Philo the dictator…brought three laws most favorable to the plebs and against the nobility: one, that plebiscites should bind all Quirites…

Quirites vs Milites

sed una uoce, qua ‘Quirites’ eos pro militibus appellarat, tam facile circumegit et flexit, ut ei milites esse confestim responderint et quamuis recusantem ultro in Africam sint secuti. (Suetonius J. Caesar 70.1)

But with one shout, in which he called them “Quirites” instead of “soldiers,” he so easily surrounded and turned them, so that they immediately responded to him that they were soldiers and they followed him into Africa, even though he was upbraiding them.

Populus Romanus Quirites

Lex Hortensia

Q. Hortensius dictator, cum plebes secessisset in Ianiculum, legem in aesculeto tulit, ut quod ea iussisset omnes Quirites teneret. (Pliny the Elder NH 16.15)

Q. Hortensius, the dictator, on the secession of the plebeians to the Janiculum, passed a law in the Aesculetum, that what the plebeians had enacted should be binding upon every Roman citizen.

…“plebisscita” appellantur…quibus rogationibus ante patricii non tenebantur, donec Q. Hortensius dictator eam legem tulit, ut eo iure, quod plebs statuisset, omnes Quirites tenerentur. (Laelius Felix apud Gell. NA 15.27)

…they are called “plebiscites”…by which the patricians were earlier not held, until Q. Hortensius, as dictator, brought this law, that all Quirites should be held by that law which the plebs established.

Cicero

Leges statuimus per vim et contra auspicia latas eisque nec populum nec plebem teneri: num eas restitui posse censetis? (Cicero Phil. 12.12)

We have declared that laws have been carried by him by means of violence, and in a manner contrary to the auspices, and that neither the populus nor the plebs are bound by them. Do you consider it possible that those laws should be reestablished?

Plebiscita ad rem militarem

…alterum, ut duumuiros nauales classis ornandae reficiendaeque causa idem populus iuberet; lator huius plebi sciti fuit M. Decius tribunus plebis. (Liv. AUC 9.30.3)

…the other, that the populus likewise order naval duumvirs for the sake of equipping and remaking the fleet; the bringer of this plebiscite was M. Decius, a plebeian tribune.